Sometimes it's hard to be a banker - blamed for causing the global financial crisis and berated for having the gall to draw a huge salary all the while. But last night brought a welcome reprieve for those members of the profession feeling universally unloved, as 300 representatives from the world's biggest banks gathered together to celebrate each others' achievements at the Bank of the Year Awards 2008.

Held in the opulent ballroom of the five-star Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane in central London, the awards were an opportunity to "celebrate the success and major achievements of the world's leading financial institutions", said the organisers. The invitations stipulated black tie, and a lavish meal was promised, along with free drinks all night.

According to Stephen Timewell, the editor in chief of the Banker magazine, which runs the awards, bigwigs from 116 countries and all the major British banks, such Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC, were on the guest list, including 63-year-old former chairman of Barclays Matthew Barrett.

But the big prize of the night, global bank of the year, went to the Paris-based European bank BNP Paribas. Banco Santander, which took over Alliance & Leicester this year, as well as the savings side of Bradford & Bingley, won the best bank in Latin America category. The Lifetime achievement award went to Ibrahim Dabdoub, the chief executive of the National Bank of Kuwait.

Asked whether this year's event would be more austere than those in the past given the current climate, Timewell said: "If you put 300 people in a room to celebrate, they are not going to cry into their soup. They are human beings."

But he admitted that holding a big bash during these tricky times might seem incongruous.

"It's sort of a difficult time on the world banking stage and it's not a happy time. It's pretty grim. But do you stop doing this? The answer is no, not really."

He said that while the current financial crisis was global in scale, not all countries were suffering. "Even the revised forecast for China shows its economy is growing by 7.5%. It's not horrific everywhere," he said, adding that the awards were "not anglocentric".

Plus, he said, the awards had been in the pipeline for a long time. "The timing is not terrific but this is an annual process that starts early in the year. It didn't look quite as bad when the [entry forms] were sent out."

The 150-plus winners were given a bust of Brendan Bracken, the first chairman of the Financial Times, by the television newsreader Michael Buerk.

· This article was amended on Thursday November 27 2008. Matthew Barrett, the former chairman of Barclays, is 63, not 92. This has been corrected.